The 100th Hunger Games
by SugarBear22
Summary: Well, there's not much to explain, It's my version of the hunger games with a shocking twist! :D
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Hunger Games.**

Chapter 1:

Although today is the day of the reaping I wake up feeling very refreshed from my long sleep. Most kids barely get any sleep at all, if any, the day before the reaping. I am not scared because I have very low odds of getting picked today although it is a Quarter Quell; they are celebrating a century of Hunger games this year. For the Quarter Quell, They will be only picking one name and the other will come from the tributes siblings of any age. They have to be at least five years old though; they won't be sending a baby into the arena. If a girl is picked, a boy sibling will be the one going with. If the girl has only girl siblings the girl will be picked. If the girl has more than one boy sibling they will decide amongst themselves who shall go. This means if you are an only child you won't be in the reaping bowl of names this year.

I am fifteen years old and I have six siblings, well _had_ six siblings. My five year old brother Colton died two winters ago from pneumonia. I loved him so much it was unbearable. I cried almost every waking moment of the day for three days, then I just lay in my bed for two weeks without saying a word; only eating and drinking enough to keep me alive, which wasn't much less than I normally have to eat. I was depressed for so long I thought I would never be happy again. Then one day mother brought me some of the pictures he had drawn when he was sick with pneumonia. He was always drawing. They were much better than a normal five year old could draw. I shuffled through the colorful papers when one of them caught my eye. It was a drawing of me and him holding hands and above it he had written a combination of some of the few words I had taught him to write in a very sloppy hardly readable handwriting: _I will never let you go_. I know he would never let me go since I was the one he loved most. If he was hurt and my mother would say, "let me fix you up, you'll be all better soon." He'd scream back at her "NO! Valeria has to do it! Val! Val!" He would keep yelling my name until I came to his aid, even if I wasn't there. I loved him just as much but I needed to let him go, I needed to get on with my life; there's nothing I could have done to bring him back; ever. After seeing this picture I got over myself. I still miss him deeply and every now and then when I start to think about it I will shed a tear here or there.

I have an older brother, Chase, who is eighteen years old, a younger one Reed, he's eleven. My three sisters, Raini, Rosie, and Riley are all nine years old. They are triplets, yes, and the only way I can tell their faces covered in their dark brown hair apart is that Raini has icy blue eyes, Rosie has brown eyes and a beauty mark to the right of her left eye, and Riley has one of Raini's blue eyes and one of Rosie's brown ones. Reed has straight, bright, blond hair, like mine, which is so light it looks almost white with a yellow tint. He has piercing bright blue eyes, that when you gaze into them a chill goes down your back. Gorgeous. Reed and I got our cold features from our father, very different than the dark brown hair and eyes that my mother gave to Raini, Rosie, Riley, and Chase. Colton seemed to have a sort of mixture of the two with his short curly hair that was a dirty blond, if it was brown it was a very light brown, and his pale gray eyes. If you didn't know us personally, or knew we shared the same last name, you would never have guessed we were all related.

I get up out of my bed to eat and immediately see that the rest of my family was nowhere near as lucky as me. I see the dark circles on every member of my family, and Raini seems to have passed out on the table. "You seem to have slept well." says my mother Mayella. "Wish the rest of us could have too. Here, eat something."

Sitting down on the creaky old chair I grab a piece of moldy bread and some goat cheese to spread on it. As I scrape off the mold I ask, "What time is it?"

"Eleven thirty" Reed says, in a very raspy voice, he's been up all night.

"Well we should start to get ready; the reaping is at one o'clock." I reply.

"We'll help you pick out your outfit and get ready." offers Rosie excitedly. She loves nice clothes, jewelry, and make-up; anything pretty or anything that makes you pretty, and we don't get to use it very often.

"Once you get yourselves ready." I say.

"Oh yeah, I forgot we need to be dressed up too." says Rosie, looking away.

After I finish eating I go into Rosie's, Raini's, Riley's, and my room to get ready. I put on a nice, white dress shirt and a navy blue skirt. I put my hair into a bun on my head, and do my make-up. I'm not very good at it since I've only done it once a year for the past three years, so I call my mother in to help me. My mother gasps at how beautiful I look and then fixes my make-up. She says "We're missing something. Oh, I know!" she leaves the room and comes back a short time later. "Here" She places a necklace around my neck and smiles at me in the mirror. "Perfect." she whispers in my ear. The necklace is one that has been in our family for generations, probably since the first hunger games, and I have also worn it for the past three reapings I was in.

My sisters stumble into the room with a half asleep Raini, arguing about who's going to wear what today. "Darn it. She's already ready. I knew we should have just woken up Raini earlier Riley." snaps Rosie.

"Oh well, it's fine" Says Riley, almost relieved to not have to dress me up, being the tomboy she is.

"Now I can help you guys get ready" I say to calm down Rosie.

"Okay." replies Rosie.

My mother and I get the three of them dressed and ready to go. Raini in and all blue dress with her hair pinned up into a bun almost identical to mine, but more curly Rosie in a pink one with her hair pulled back over the top and falling down into some big beautiful ringlet curls. I am so jealous of their hair, I wish my hair was curlier like theirs, and not perfectly straight the way mine is. All we can force Riley into is a French braid down her back and a white dress shirt and a light green skirt. Once we're ready we meet my brothers and father in the kitchen, Reed in a blue dress shirt and khaki pants and Chase in a white dress shirt with a dark purple tie that my father must have given him and khaki pants. "I wish I could just wear some dress pants and a shirt like Reed and Chase get to" complains Riley, "If only I was born a boy." We leave to go to the town square of District 7 next to the Justice building, and get ready for the reaping.

Delphi Combe takes the stage with a huge smile on her face. She introduces the hunger games and the Quarter Quell, and I tune it out because I really don't care. I tune back in to hear her say "And now we will pick the tribute." She walks over and swirls her hand around in the hand of names, takes her time picking the perfect one. She slowly pulls it out of the bowl, opens it, walks back over to the microphone, clears her throat and reads aloud a name that makes me want to run, scream, hide, cry, faint, and die all at the same time. "Chase Rankine".


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

I do not run, hide, scream, cry, faint, nor die when I hear the name; instead I just stand there, frozen. I think I must still be asleep, in my bed at home, because there is no way this horrible nightmare could ever be a reality. As I was standing there frozen, my brother walks up to the stage and Delphi says something but I can't quite make out what she is saying, I am so shocked. Everyone starts going back to their homes, my brother gets down off the stage, and I just remain standing there, in complete shock. I would probably have stayed in shock forever if I hadn't heard an extremely familiar cry, my sister, Raini. I slowly turn my head toward my sister and gradually come out of my state of shock. Although I want to cry very badly, I must stay strong, so that my family will not give up what little hope they have.

Walking over to my family, I notice my brother Reed is also silently crying, trying to hold it in but cannot. "We have one hour to decide which of you girls are going to go to the arena with me." my brother tells me with a stern face. That must have been what Delphi was saying when I was freaking out.

"Let's go home and talk about it there." I say in a very whiny voice, the side affect of me holding in my tears.

When we get home Raini stops crying, Reed had already stopped when we were leaving the town square. We all know whose going; it's just that no one wants to be the one to volunteer me. I am about to speak up and say I'm going when Riley says boldly, "I will go with you Chase."

"No you won't." I say

"Why not, we need you to stay here and take care of the rest of the family, and I would be fine in the arena anyway. I would rather die doing something I love than living a long life here with my family, bored out of my mind." she says.

"There is no way I'm letting you go in there. I don't care if you're favorite thing to do is beat up people, which by the way you need to stop beating up the boys in your class they are scared of you enough already, I would never let my nine year old sister go into the arena to die, just so I don't have to. You have extremely little to no chance of winning. I at least have a chance because I am older and bigger and stronger than you. If I did I would never be able to live with myself if you died, knowing I could have saved my little sister who I loved so much's life, but didn't because I thought my life was more valuable, which it is not." I counter. After this Riley drops her gaze from me and frowns at the ground. There is a long awkward silence which I finally break by saying, "I guess it's settled then, I will be going to the arena with Chase."

The time we were given to decide whose going was also the time we were given to say good bye to our families. We used up a lot of it arguing, so I only had a few minutes to say good bye. "Mom, stay strong, you can get our family through this. Dad, thank you for all that you have done for our family. Reed, you will be the oldest child now, so keep an eye on your sisters for us,"

A big tear rolls down his cheek and he gets out, "Okay, anything for you."

Now for my three sisters, "You three need to stick together through everything and try to stop fighting. Rosie, you keep getting prettier every day, but this is how I will always remember you. Keep your chin up and don't forget to smile. Riley, try to give those boys a break, and stay out of trouble. Raini, you need to be stronger; try not to cry as much. I love you all more than anything in the world."

Chase says his goodbyes and we head back up to the Justice Building, leaving our family huddled together outside the door; my mother and father looking on with somber faces, my father holding Raini and my mother holding Reed's hand my Rosie and Riley hugging each other in-between my parents. _This is it, the last time I will ever see my family, and this is how I will always remember them_, I think to myself. I get out one last goodbye before the doors of the Justice building are shut and I give Chase a big hug and cannot help myself from crying all over his shoulder this time.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

We travel by train to the Capitol. On the train we meet our mentor, a crusty old lady named Elise, who laughs after everything she says, even if it's not supposed to be funny. She explains how sponsors can send us gifts in the arena, possibly saving our lives. She is overweight and cannot resist the temptation of food, which is fine because we have tons of it to spare on the train. She says we need to be friendly and make people like us, I know I will have no problem with this but I cannot say the same about Chase.

My prep team composed of Felix, Alice, and Bonbe, gets me ready for the Chariot ride. I then get to meet my stylist, Lopez, who chooses to dress me in the traditional District 7 attire, lumberjack outfits, red flannel plaid shirts and blue jeans with suspenders holding them up. My hair is down in ringlet curls that remind me of my sisters' hair; I am excited to finally have their curls that I could never have achieved in my own home.

Chase and I ride together in a chariot with our arms interlocked at the elbow. He is the only piece of home I have with me here in the Capitol, and I am determined not to let him go. When we get to the front of the Training Center, I finally get a chance to observe the other tributes. Glancing around at them, the ones that stand out in my mind are two beastly looking twin boys from 1, a fierce looking girl from 4, a really cute boy from 12, his sister who unlike him is one of the most hideous creatures I have ever seen, a girl dark red straight hair that is almost down to her knees from 8, and then I see him. What I know will be my weakness in the games. The youngest tribute here. A boy who looks like he could not be older than seven years old standing in the chariot next to the girl with the long hair. He looks almost identical to my brother Colton, other than the fact that he has a few freckles sprinkled across his innocent face. He is the same age my brother would have been if he had not died two winters ago. All the memories are flooding back to me, but I can't cry, not here, not now; I need to stay strong. I can tell I get that shocked look on my face that I had when my brother's name was read because Chase leans over and whispers in my ear, "It's not him you know. Colton's dead. We can get through this, don't worry, I got your back sis."

Chase's words jerk me back to reality just in time to hear President Snow say "… and may the odds be _ever_ in your favor."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

We get to sleep on the seventh floor of the training center building, since we are from District 7. For the next couple of days we will be practicing our survival skills in the training center. Elise advises us not to show the things we are actually good at until we get to have a private session with the game makers, so that the other tributes won't know what our strengths are.

Chase is pretty good with an axe. Our district is the lumber industry and when you turn sixteen you are allowed to work in it. This year is Chase's third year of cutting down trees with an axe, so he is pretty familiar with that weapon. I am only fifteen so I am not old enough to be in the industry yet; I am no good with an axe.

My strength is throwing knives. I remember it if it was just yesterday. On my fifth birthday, my mother and father got me a dartboard, well more like made me a dartboard. It was a real rarity in the place I was from, so I was happy to have it. It was made out of a tree stump that was chopped so it was only an inch and a half thick, with lines and circles carved into it. We didn't have any darts to go with it though, so we just used knives. I had a real flair for it. After a month of having it, no one ever beat me at darts again; I had such precision and accuracy. No one in my family was as good as me at playing darts.

While we're in the training center, Chase and I stick to the things that we don't know how to do well, like making a fire and tying knots. I spend a while at the edible foods station, learning what foods are edible and which are not.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

Tonight is the night we get to have our private sessions with the gamemakers. I am very excited to show off my true talent. All the tributes are sitting in a small room, getting their names called off one by one; They go in numerical order, District 1 will go first and District 12 will go last. When my name is called I quietly stand up, and walk into the training room.

There is sort of a balcony set up where all of the gamemakers are sitting. All kinds of delicious foods are on the tables around them. Some of them are totally zoned into their food while others have their eyes fixated on me, so I walk to the table where the knives are, pick up a handful and get to work.

The knives fly gracefully out of my hands and hit various targets around the room. When I'm finished throwing I inspect them. All dead bulls' eyes except for one about a half inch to the right of the center. Satisfied with my work, I leave the room with a smirk on my face.

The next morning we get to see what scores we got. They can range anywhere from one through twelve with one being the worst and twelve being the best. On the TV screen pictures of the tribute will appear with the score they got next to them. One of the twins from one got a nine and the other got a ten. The girl from 4 got a nine. Chase got an eight. I got a ten. The girl from 8 got a six and her brother got a four. The cute boy from 12 got an eight. The other tributes had a variety of numbers sprinkled between them, but none of them did better than an eight or worse than a five.

I got a ten! That's really good. I am very pleased with myself until I look over to my brother who looks sort of upset that I beat his score. "It's just a number. It doesn't mean anything" I say, trying my hardest to comfort him.

"I know," Chase says, "You must have really shocked them with your throwing abilities."

"Yeah I think I did. When I first came in there was a lot of loud clinking of the dishes they were eating but as I was leaving the only thing I could hear were my footsteps." I say proudly.

"Tonight you will be doing your interviews." Elise interviews. "You need to make sure they like you so you can get some sponsors. Don't let them forget about you."

"I'll try." I say.

Our interviews are with Caesar Flickerman, he changes his hair color almost every year for the Hunger Games; this year his hair is a dark violet that matches his suit and eye shadow. I am wearing a long icy blue dress with little jewels scattered all over it, which matches my eyes almost perfectly. My hair is down in curls again which makes me think of my sisters, which makes me start to get sad. Then my name is called and I go out onto the stage and take a seat next to Caesar. "My, you look beautiful tonight, doesn't she folks?" Says Caesar, apparently the audience agrees with him because I hear a loud applause and some whistles coming from the audience.

"Thank you" I reply nicely, which quiets down the audience.

"So, Valeria do you have any other sisters at home?" Caesar Flickerman asks inquisitively.

"Yes." I reply shyly.

"How many?"

"Three. They're triplets." I say shyly.

"How did you decide to come instead of them?"Caesar asks.

"Well, they are only nine years old and I am fifteen, so there was no way I was letting them go instead of me. Even though one of them offered." I reply, I don't want to talk about them or I might get too emotional, I hope we are finished soon.

"Oh, I see I see. You really couldn't let them go. Which one of them offered to take your place?"

"Riley, she gets in fights a lot at school so she thought she would be able to handle herself in the arena." I am beginning to feel like Caesar is invading my privacy, and I don't like it.

"Well, I hope we can get you back home to her." Caesar says dismissing the subject. Thank god. "It looks like we're out of time to talk with Valeria. Say goodbye folks."

I hear a loud "BYE" come from the audience and a lot of clapping. When I get back to the Training Center and into my bed it really hits me hard. Tomorrow I will be going into the arena.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

I barely got any sleep last night. Today is the day that we will enter the arena. I am freaked out, so it's a good thing I have my prep team to get me ready, because I have the jitters and my hands are extremely shaky. I am dressed in a black jacket with dark forest green pants. The last person I get to see before I am put into the arena is my stylist, Lopez. I say goodbye to Lopez; I don't really like him very much. Even though I am not very fond of Lopez I feel the need to hug someone. Since he is the only person around I wrap my arms around him. I hear a voice say _sixty seconds until departure_.

"You'll be fine, just stay strong." Lopez tries to comfort me but it doesn't help at all. If anything it makes me feel worse. I don't reply to him, just stay with my arms around him. _Thirty seconds, _the voice says.

"Goodbye." he whispers to him.

"See you later." I say jokingly, even though I know I will never see him again. _Fifteen seconds, _I release him and stand in my clear tube until my pedestal starts lifting. The adrenaline starts running through my body.

At first I can't see anything except for the brightness and glare of the sun. When my eyes get used to the light I look around. To the left of me there is a large lake and across it there are some tall mountains. The rest of the arena is just woods from what I can see; there might be a river or something around. _26, 25, 24, _I hear a loud deep voice counting down until the game starts. The Cornucopia is straight ahead of me. I see a box that has knives written on it. The box just so happens to be right next to an axe. Even though my mentor advised me not to run into the Cornucopia, I think I'll take my chances. _9, 8, 7, 6, _The voice counts down. I am ready to run. I see movement to my right so I look over. It is that creepy looking chick from twelve who is the hot guy's sister. She stepped off the pedestal. I feel like everything is in slow motion when her foot hits the ground. She explodes into a million pieces and you can barely hear the voice say, _Let the 100__th__ Hunger Games begin_.

Many people have no idea what's going on, and I know this is my chance to get the knives and ax. I bolt across the ground and open my knives box and grab some before the first person comes. I grab the axe and a backpack that's on the ground next to me. The boy from 4 is up ahead of me trying to block my escape into the woods. I throw a knife and it pierces him right through the heart. He falls to the ground, dead, and I run in the direction I thought I saw Chase go. I am running as quickly as I can through the woods and I see Chase pretty far away in front of me. I get close enough for him to hear me and I whisper, "Pssst. Chase." I don't know why I'm whispering because I know no one's around. Chase looks behind him, sees me, and then he slows his pace to a fast walk so I can catch up. "Where are you going" I ask him when I catch up and am walking next to him.

"I'm looking for a riverbank or something that we can make camp at. Also I was looking for you." He finally replies.

"Well, you found me." I say. They started sounding the cannons, signifying that the blood bath is over. Chase and I both stop walking to count. I think to myself to keep track: _one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen. _Then the cannon stops sounding. Thirteen deaths. I can't help but hope that the two tributes from 8 didn't get killed. I guess I'll find out tonight in the anthem "Thirteen?" I ask Chase.

"Yeah, that's what I counted too." Chase replies. We start walking again; slower now than before. After walking for probably two hours, we and finally find a river.

"Let's make camp near here." Chase advises. We walk about 50 yards into the woods and find a large rock. "Right here, this is perfect." We sit down and lean back against the rock. I notice he doesn't have any weapons with him; he has a large navy blue backpack though. We both open our backpacks and examine the contents. Mine has an empty water canteen, a sleeping bag, some trail mix, and some dried beef. Chase's has a box of matches, a pocket knife, and a black sleeping bag, and a canteen that is about half of the size as mine. We go and fill our canteens and when we get back to the rocks Chase asks me, "Do you know what happened at the Cornucopia?"

"Yeah, you know that disgusting girl from 12, right?" I ask

"Yeah, I think I remember someone like that." He says.

"When there was about five seconds left on the countdown she stepped off of her pedestal. It was grotesque to watch, and I saw the whole thing clearly." I explain. After a few seconds of silence I say, "I brought you something from the Cornucopia. Just wait." I shuffle quickly through my bag and find it. Handing it to him I say "Here"

"You shouldn't have gone out of your way to grab this for me. You could have been killed." Chase argues.

"Well I wasn't, and it was right next to my knives anyway." I say, showing him the box. "I even had extra time to grab this bag thanks to the confusion of the explosion." I say holding up my bag. We just sit against the rock for hours waiting for the anthem to come on; we will save the hunting and gathering for tomorrow.

When the anthem starts I concentrate on it, wanting to know who was killed. The girl from one, both from three, the boy from four, the boy from five, both from six, both from nine and ten, the girl from eleven, and of course, the girl from twelve. There are only eleven left. Five girls and six boys. After the anthem Chase and I both climb into his sleeping bag and fall asleep.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

I wake up feeling sore and hungry, from all of the walking we did yesterday. Other than me the sleeping bag is empty; Chase must have gotten up already. "You're finally up sleepyhead." Chase jokes. "We are going to go hunting once you get ready."

There isn't much for me to get ready; I just get out of the sleeping bag, fold it up, and put it away in Chase's backpack. I put some knives in my jacket pockets, and put my backpack onto my back, "Ready." I tell Chase.

"Okay let's go" Chase says.

I hit three squirrels and a rabbit with my knives; Chase found some raspberries on a bush. We go back to our rock, clean and skin our animals, start a fire, and cook them. Chase and I each get our own squirrel and a handful of raspberries for dessert. While we're eating I remind Chase, "There are only eleven of us left, five girls and six boys."

"No, there are only four girls and seven boys. Remember that there is one District that has two twin boy tributes?" Chase says.

"Oh yeah, I had completely forgotten about them." I say. When we are done eating we put out the fire, refill our canteens, and sit at our rock.

"So, do you just want to sit and wait for them to come for us, or should we go after them first?" Chase asks.

"I think we should wait until tomorrow to go after them; I don't think anyone will find us here tonight." I advise.

"Ok, sounds good. I haven't heard any cannons go off today, so the gamemakers will probably try to initiate a fight or something like that." Chase says. We stay up late to see the anthem to see if we might have missed a cannon, but we didn't. We eat a little bit before we go are going to go to sleep. As Chase is popping a berry into his mouth he says to me " I wonder what our family is doing right…" He stops in the middle of his sentence and I know something is wrong. Chase coughs up a little bit of blood before I see the figure.

It is dark enough out now that I can't see the shadow's face, but by the silhouette I'd say it was probably a boy. Before Chase falls to the ground I have my knives and am throwing them at the shadow. It starts running away and I think I only hit it once in the darkness. I know that I hit the figure only because I heard it yelp in pain. I hit it somewhere around the right shoulder from the backside; he was running away so that means I hit in the back of the shadow. He's injured, so he will see to his wound before coming back to attack me. I stumble over to Chase; in the darkness I can only see a little glint of light reflecting from the stars and moon in his eyes. Apparently the shadow was alone because no more attacks are coming in. I flip Chase over to see the wound on his back; it was a knife that the figure stabbed into his lower back. The second I see his wound I start sobbing, it is too deep and wide for him to survive. He comforts me, "Valeria, you'll be fine, I know you will."

"Don't leave me here alone!" I yell at him in a panicked voice.

"You have to get out of here. You need to get back to our family. You need to win." says Chase.

"No, please Chase, please stay with me." I say while still crying.

"For me?" Chase asks. This is his last wish; I cannot say no.

I stop my crying a little and try to be strong. "Okay, for you." I whine.

Chase's voice is turning to a whisper so I lean really close to hear, "Don't… let them… starve." With this all of the life goes out of Chase and I close his eyes and kiss his forehead. The cannon sounds, but only one, meaning his murderer is still alive, out there somewhere. Hungry for revenge, I decide that tomorrow will be the day of the shadow's death, it would be a lot easier if I knew who it was. _I cannot sleep, I will not sleep until the figure is dead. _I promise myself, but after a couple of hours my promise is broken, and I drift off into a restless slumber.


	8. Chapter 8

I awake after only getting a few hours of sleep; I was having nightmares of the figure killing Chase over and over in a variety of ways. I eat some squirrel for breakfast and find that Chase's body is gone, the hovercraft must have came to pick it up when I was sleeping. I put the sleeping bag, matches, ax, some of the knives (the others are in my pockets), and canteens into Chase's larger backpack, and put the rest of the food in my smaller one. I refill the canteens full of water, and to put extra fuel on the fire of revenge burning deep inside me I inscribe on our rock with Chase's pocket knife: Here lies Chase Rankine, beloved brother, son, and friend; Rest In Peace. Then I put the backpacks onto my back and head off to find Chase's killer. Even if I don't know who Chase's killer was I am pretty sure he was a tall boy; that doesn't really narrow anything down though since all of the boys are tall except for the one that reminds me of Colton. I am going to kill anyone I see anyway (except the two from 8, and maybe the cute boy from 12; I like them), they all need to go for me to win and go back home to my family.

On my day of scavenging for the person who killed my brother, I don't find anyone except for a couple of turkeys wandering around. I only hit one; I can't carry very much more. I gut and clean the turkey, make a fire to roast him for lunch, and eat about a fourth of it. I hide my tracks and make the area seem unused by people, like I was never even there. I walk around for awhile looking for the river. I shouldn't be too far away from it. I find the river and refill my canteens. Searching for the shadow, I shuffle through the forest, until I find something that catches my eye. A trail of broken twigs and branches, and disturbed greenery. Someone's been here recently, since the breaks look fresh. I follow the trail and am surprised at what I find at the end of it.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

The thing I find at the end of the trail is not a psycho killer; it's the district 8 tributes. I slowly walk out of through the trees to where they can see me; they're getting all ready to fight and are getting defensive. I say to them as politely as I can "Don't worry, I won't hurt you. Do you guys want to be in an alliance with me?"

"Why should we?" snaps the girl, still poised to attack.

"Because we'll both be doing better if we work together." I counter. I am doing perfectly fine all by myself, but they look like they could use some help, and I am perfectly willing and able to give it to them. "Here have some food. You look like you could use some." I walk towards them and give her the bag filled with food. She opens it and then looks up at me.

"What is your name?" She asks.

"Valeria, but you can call me Val. And what are your names?" I reply

"My name is Ryder and this is my little brother, Skylar." Ryder says as she hands Skylar a bit of rabbit. "We'll be in an alliance with you but I've got my eye on you Val."

"Don't worry about me, I'd never hurt either of you." I promise. "Do you guys have any weapons?"

"All we have is this one knife I got in the bag I picked up." Says Ryder as she holds up a long knife.

"Here, I have an extra ax." I say, trying to keep myself from crying, because the ax reminds me of Chase. "I've been walking all day, I need a break." I go and sit under a shady tree and think of Chase, which only makes me feel sadder and want revenge more. After a while I get up and say to Ryder, "We have enough food for today, but we should go hunting tomorrow."

"Ok." replies Ryder. We stay up late to watch the anthem, as always. The only face they show today is my brother Chase, who was killed last night after the anthem. I start crying to myself quietly, not wanting to look weak in front of them.

After I'm done crying and I regain my composure, I decide to give Ryder and Skylar my sleeping bag. Even though it's deathly cold outside at night, I think they need it more. "I'll keep the first watch." I tell them.

"I'll watch with you" says Ryder. I cannot deny her request because she will think that I'm going to try to kill them while they're sleeping.

We all get settled in for the night, I sit next to Ryder on the ground and I am admiring the stars, wondering if my family is doing the same now. When I am sure that Skylar is asleep, I tell Ryder, "I love your hair. When's the last time you got it cut?"

"Oh, I haven't gotten it cut since I was ten years old." she said.

"Why not?" I ask.

"The last person who ever cut my hair was my mother, and I am never going to let anyone else cut it. It's sort of like a keepsake of her, ya' know?" she explains.

"What happened to her?"

"I'd rather not talk about that. But ever since she died I have been like a mother to Skylar, and I won't let anything bad happen to him." she says quietly.

"Don't worry, I will protect Skylar with my life." I say, still examining her beautiful hair.

"Why? You haven't even talked to him one time." says Ryder.

"He reminds me of someone I used to know, he looks almost exactly like him, and if he was still with me he would be the same age that Skylar is. Ever since I saw him in the chariot I knew that I wanted to have an alliance with you two." I tell her.

"Who is he?"

"My beloved baby brother." I get out, talking about him makes me sad.

"May I ask you his name?" Ryder must know that I'm upset because she's being extremely polite.

"Colton." I say. To hide my tears I say. "I'm really tired. Can you keep watch by yourself?"

"Yeah."

"Wake me up if you get tired, Okay?"

"Kay." She replies.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10:

When I wake up the next morning, I see if anyone else is awake and I find that Skylar is. Skylar and I eat breakfast together, and I ask him if he knows where any water is.

"There's a river about one hundred yards that way." Skylar says, pointing to the left of me.

"Okay, I'm going to go and refill my water. You stay here with Ryder. Do you want me to fill yours up too?"

"Sure." Skylar says, reaching for his water bottles and giving them too me. "The metallic one is Ryder's, and the Blue one is mine."

"I'll be right back." I tell Skylar, walking in the direction that he had pointed out to me.

When I reach the river, I fill up all the water bottles. I am about to go back when I hear a branch crack and a bold voice say quietly behind me, almost in whisper, "I'm not going to hurt you. I want to have a truce with you."

I turn around and see the boy from 12 inches away from my face, which startles me, so I back up a few inches. He must be telling the truth, since he could have easily killed me already if he wanted to. "I will have to ask the others in my alliance. Stay here, I will be right back." I purposely leave my canteen behind so that I will have an excuse to go back to the river if they say no.

I walk to where our camp is and I see that Ryder is awake now. I casually approach them and sit down next to Skylar. I can't think of a way to ask them so I find myself blurting out, "Would you guys be okay if we had the boy from 12 join in our alliance?"

Skylar immediately says sure, but Ryder ponders it for a while. "I want to meet him and talk with him, then I will decide after we talk whether or not to let him join our truce." she says.

I say, "Follow me." and she does so, and so does Skylar. When we arrive at the river, I don't see him at first, but after looking through the trees I spot him in one sitting casually; awaiting the time of my return. I pick up my canteen that I had left there, and tell the boy, while pointing at Ryder, "Come down. She wants to talk with you."

The boy flings himself down from the tree gracefully. "What's your name?" asks, Ryder.

"Joshie," says the boy. "and yours?"

"My name is Ryder, this here is Valeria," She says as she puts her hand on my shoulder, "and this is my brother, Skylar." She picked up Skylar and put him on her shoulder. "Let me just come right out and say it. I don't trust you," She says proudly. "So I will have my eye on you, but I guess since it's okay with Val and Skylar I'll let you camp with us."

"Thank you." He replies. "I'm guessing your camp is this way since this is the way Valeria went."

"Yes it is, and you can call me Val if you'd like to."

"Okay, Val."

We all settle back into the camp and eat up the remaining food we have quickly. Since it is only about midday, I decide that we should go hunting. I say I will go by myself, but Joshie quickly stops me and volunteers to come with me. Joshie doesn't have any weapon, but he is good with snares. He had set up a bunch of them all over the place and in them he caught two rabbits. I hit four squirrels with my knives, and we are on our way back to camp to clean and gut them. All of the sudden, we hear a cannon boom, the signal that someone has died, and we start running. Then we hear another.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11:

Joshie and I run as fast as we can through the woods back to our camp. We heard two cannons, and there are two people at our camp, so I am extremely worried. When we arrive back at the camp, I see that Ryder and Skylar are fine, but they are just as panicked as we are and are frantically looking through the trees when Skylar sees us. I run to them and stop near them to catch my breath. "You scared us, half, to death." I say, panting in between words.

"We were so worried about you guys." said Skylar in a whiny voice.

"Well, we caught some food." I say, giving them the bag with food in it "Will you help me clean it up?"

"If you show me how, I've never done it before." explains Skylar. I help him and we all eat, with about half of our food remaining when we are finished.

When the anthem comes on, all of our eyes are locked onto it. The two deaths we heard today were the girl from five and the boy from eleven, leaving only eight people left. three girls and five boys. The two boys from one, the boy from two, the girl from four, me, Skylar and Ryder from eight, and Joshie from twelve are the only ones left. There is our alliance and the careers, I don't know if they are in an alliance, but it is most likely that they are. I know I should be leaving the alliance soon but something is keeping me. After the anthem Joshie volunteers to stay up and keep watch. Ryder says she will stay up with him, since she still doesn't trust him. Finally, I can get some sleep.

Over the next few days, we hunt a lot and have food to spare. I think I eat better in the arena then I used to back in District 7. There have been no more deaths since the day Joshie joined our alliance, so I'm guessing the gamemakers are itching for a fight. We still intently watch the anthem every night, in case there was a death that we missed, but again tonight there are no new deaths, and there are still eight people wandering about in the woods. I volunteer to keep watch tonight, since I am restless today, and so does Joshie.

I'm sad to say that I have really come to like Joshie. He is simply gorgeous and one of the nicest people I have ever met. He has dark brown hair that is almost black, but not quite, and simple gray eyes. His skin is fair and perfect. Not a blemish freckle or anything to be seen on it, other than dirt and a scratch or two from the arena. He is very muscular and tall, but he probably not any older than 16. When we are sure that Ryder and Skylar are awake, Joshie asks me, "Are you sure we shouldn't get rid of them now?"

Shocked at what he is saying, because I would never consider such a thing, I tell him, "If you ever lay a hand on either one of them, you're dead to me."

"Woah, calm down. I was just asking. I'm fine with that. Why are you so defensive about them anyway?" Joshie retorts.

"He reminds me of my five year old brother that died of pneumonia two years ago, and she has the same goal as me; to protect him."

"I guess you can't leave them then; It's really too bad a beautiful girl like you had to be thrown into this arena, but I guess it couldn't be helped with your sisters and all." He says. "So many things that you'll never get too see or do, so many lost experiences." I look into his eyes and find them staring back at me. Something just comes over me, and I lean in and kiss Joshie. It seemed to last forever. It could last forever for all I care; I'm dead anyway. The thing that breaks us apart is a loud cannon boom coming from the distance. We glance towards the direction that the noise came from and see nothing. I guess the careers aren't in an alliance, and if they were, I guess they just broke it.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12:

The next day, after eating breakfast and hunting, we all sit lazily back at the camp. I am beginning to let myself off guard, because nothing has happened in so long. I think Ryder is beginning to trust Joshie more. Joshie says he will go to fill up the canteens, and Ryder goes with him. Everyone is getting along well. I move to sit closer to Skylar, and tell him, "She really loves you, you know."

"Yeah, she's taken care me ever since I can remember."

"What happened to your mom?"

"I asked my sister about it before, and she told me that when I was really little, my mother was very sad. I don't know why, but she was so sad, she decided that she couldn't live with us anymore, and she decided to leave. I asked Ryder where she went and all she said was 'when this life is over for you, you'll be able to spend as much time as you want with her' Ryder said my mother really loved me, but she just couldn't be with me anymore."

"I'm so sorry Skylar."

I hear the scream of a girl coming from the direction of the river, and before I can stand up Skylar is bolting through the forest. When we get to the river, I see Joshie giving Ryder mouth to mouth, both of them are dripping wet. After a few minutes of trying to revive her, a cannon goes off, signifying her death. Skylar has already been crying but Joshie was keeping him away from her while he gave her CPR. Now that she's gone Skylar is weeping over her body and Joshie comes to talk to me. Horrified, I say, "What happened?"

"She said she was going to bathe herself, so I went upstream a little ways in the river to get some water in the canteens. I heard her scream and came rushing back, but the girl from four was in the water with Ryder being drowned by her. I started throwing knives at her and she got out of the water, I'm not very good with knives, but I hit her once in her upper thigh. I don't think it was very deep though, because she ran off before I could hit her again. Then I dived in and grabbed Ryder, drug her to shore and started giving her CPR, and that's when you guys showed up. I think she was alone since no one else was attacking me."

"Let's give Skylar some time, and then take him back to camp." After about fifteen minutes of him crying, it comes to a stop. I don't think that there are anymore tears left in him. We tell him we're going back to camp, and he reluctantly, but obediently follows.

That night two faces are on the anthem. The boy from 2 and Ryder. The ones left are: the twins from one, the girl from four, me, Skylar, and Joshie. After seeing Ryder, Skylar starts crying again, and he cries himself to sleep.


	13. Chapter 14

Chapter 14:

When I wake up I find that Joshie is already awake. "I'm going to fill up the water bottles." I tell him.

"Okay, don't be gone long." He replies in an early morning voice.

I am barely 40 yards away when I hear the scream. I turn and start running back to our camp, as fast as my feet will allow me to go. When I arrive, I find Skylar on the ground with the axe in his stomach. I assume he is still holding onto life since no cannon has sounded yet, but the other thing I find is much more horrifying. Joshie is leaning a few inches from Skylar's face with an evil smirk on his own. "I've been waiting so long for this, you annoying little brat." Joshie admits to Skylar. He seems like a totally different person from the one that I knew for the past few days. I don't think he's realized that I'm there because he hasn't even looked in my direction.

It happens in an instant. I feel like I am outside my body watching from afar when I find myself pinning Joshie up by the neck to a tree with my arm. He still has a grimace on his face. "Why did you do this!" I angrily yell at him.

"Because, I knew you would never be able to do it, ever since you told me about your brother." Joshie replies calmly. He's not fighting me; he must know he doesn't have a chance. When I think about what he said, I know he's right. If it would have come down to Skylar and me, I would probably have killed myself so he could win and go home. But I can never forgive Joshie.

"You're lying!" I scream at him,

Joshie just laughs evilly. There's a long pause before he replies. "You're right."

Suddenly, the truth just starts rushing into my mind. "Ryder? You killed her too?" My voice cracks as I am about to cry.

"So, you finally figured that one out?" He laughs again.

I am beginning to feel more and angrier. I ask, "And your sister?"

"It was all part of the plan. I told her to step off of the pedestal to make a diversion so that I could get to the Cornucopia."

My mouth has a bitter taste as I get out, "Chase?"

"That was the most obvious one. Did you really not catch a glimpse of me at all?" He laughs another time.

I cannot handle myself anymore, "Didn't your mother ever tell you not to lie?" I stab a knife deep into his stomach and twist it around in a circle. I take it out and just keep repeatedly stabbing him until a cannon goes off. It is either Joshie's or Skylar's. Skylar. I totally forgot about him. I see the light go out of Joshie's eyes and the grin fall off his face before I release him and he falls to the ground. I turn around and start sobbing immediately. I drop to the ground next to Skylar and pull the axe out of him. He is lying in a puddle of his own blood. It really is a miracle he's still alive.

"Don't cry," he says. "I'm going to where I belong. I'm going to where Ryder and mommy are. I finally get to be with mommy." The cannon sounds as I close his eyes.


	14. Chapter 15

Chapter 15:

_What is going on? I honestly have no idea anymore. Everything that I had believed to be true has turned out to be a lie. I don't feel like doing anything anymore. I'm so stupid. What did Joshie all do? First he sacrificed his sister's life so he could get some extra things at the Cornucopia. Then he killed Chase and I unknowingly formed an alliance with him. Yes. I formed an alliance with my brother's murderer. After that, I kissed him, how could I do something like that? Later he killed Ryder, who was only trying to protect Skylar. He lied and told me it was the girl from 4. Of course I would believe anything he said; I thought I was in love with him. Then he killed Skylar. He probably would have told me it was the girl from four again if I hadn't seen him. And I would have believed him. I would have been the next person on his list to kill. But instead I killed him after he killed Skylar, and found out the truth. The one person I truly trusted was the one person I shouldn't have. I am an extremely disgusting person._

I run through these thoughts again and again. I have no motivation anymore. Even if I win, I will still have all this guilt and shame to deal with even after I'm home. I wish someone would just come and take my horrible shameful life from me. I have been living a lie for the past few weeks. I can barely get myself up off of the ground in the morning to eat. I still have a large enough collection of food that I could last a few more days without hunting. I eat, and shortly after go back into my depressed thoughts that are consuming every moment of the day.

Before long the day is passed with me just laying there on the ground. Another day passes and another. Nothing's happening. No cannons, nothing. The gamemakers are probably starting to get bored, and so am I. I am tired of wasting the last few days I will have on this Earth sulking around feeling sorry for myself. What can I do? Anything and everything that I have ever wanted to do. There are no rules or restrictions here in the arena. You only live once. I am going to live it up and have as much fun as possible before I get killed, which could be anytime now. With this in mind, I start thinking of a bunch of fun things to do instead of my awful life.


	15. Chapter 16

**I am extremely sorry this is really late. I have had an extremely intense summer so far and also my laptop was broken and my stupid dad was to lazy to fix it for two months. Sorry. :(**

Chapter 16:

As I am packing up my things I think of everyone I knew here in the arena. Chase's axe, Ryder and Skylar's canteens, Joshie's jacket, which i noticed has a big rip in the shoulder, probably from the knife I threw the night of Chase's death. I guess it is true then. Joshie is the one who killed Chase.

I finish packing and push all of my depressing thoughts aside. I'm going to do a bunch of crazy things today. Kind of like a … what was the thing my mother told me once when I was younger? A something-list? I can't remember so I pick up all of the bags and leave camp behind. It isn't really a place you want to have camp anyway, with the blood stains and signs of death everywhere.

What to do? Well, I remember there are a big lake and a mountain here in the arena, so I will start there. I hike for a long ways back towards the Cornucopia, and stop to take a rest every now and then. I make it to the Cornucopia and no one seems to be around, so, I drop my packs and rest here thinking of something to do. I have never been swimming but that sounds kind of fun I guess. It's something to cross off of my list.

I pick up my packs and carry them over to the lakefront. I take off my clothes until im in just my underclothes. I dip one toe into the water and jump back. It's freezing cold. I don't care though. I want to go swimming before I die.

I dive head first into the water. I paddle around pretty agilely for a first timer. I dive all the way to the bottom and come back up. Good. I am a natural swimmer.

I play in the water for a while and I have never felt cleaner in the arena. Having gotten used to the cold water quickly, I have probably been swimming for an hour and I feel like I am already an expert swimmer. I'm kind of tired though, so I get out of the water to dry off and rest.

Now how do I get to the mountain? I look around and there seems to be a narrow path along the left side of the lake heading toward the mountain. There is probably someone over near that path since it's the only way to get to the mountain. I grin.

**I am going to write another chapter today so don't freak.**


	16. Chapter 17

**I noticed that i kind of have a lot of chapters... I think I will be able to finish up the story in 3 - 4 chapters though, depending on some things that happen.**

Chapter 17:

Feeling accomplished, I strut my way over to the path to the mountain. I hold a knife in my hands and have a bunch in my pockets, just in case. I'm walking along the path minding my own business when I hear a rustling in the bushes. With quick reflexes, I thrust my knife into the bush. The rustling stops. I tear up a little when I see that I killed a baby bunny instead of another tribute. More food for me though. I haven't eaten in a while anyway. I make a fire without caring if anyone will find their way over to me. I still don't really care if I leave the arena or not. I just want to do some of the things on my list. I didn't really make a list; it's just whatever I feel like doing I do without a care in the world.

As I arrive at the mountain I think of what I could do, spelunking is the only thing that comes to mind. Or I could climb to the top, but I like the word spelunk better than the word climb. Maybe I'll do both?

It's getting pretty windy and my blond hair is flying all up in my face. "Fuck you hair. Fuck you!" I yell at my hair. I realize this is the only thing I have said in the last few days. And it was to my hair. I must be really lonely, I mean, I'm talking to my hair. The wind calms down a bit and I find a cave that looks pretty suspicious so I go and investigate it.

As I travel deeper into the cave I notice it seems like something is living in here. There are bones on the ground and… is that a sleeping bag? I look and see there is actually two sleeping bags, and a lantern in between them. I see there is a hole in the roof of the cave where the sunlight glares in and under it is a fire pit. I move toward the fire pit and put my hands near it and just as I suspected it is still warm. This must be where the twin tributes from district one are hiding out. And they haven't left that long ago. Seeing as their things are scattered everywhere and no cannons have sounded they will probably be coming back.

When I realize this I begin to panic. Then I hear voices coming from the entrance of the cave. The hole by the fire pit is too small for me to fit through. With their footsteps approaching closer and closer every second, I go on stealth mode and quietly get two of my knives ready to go. Nearby me is a large rock and I crawl behind it waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

**Yes I am going to write and upload at least definitely one more chapter today, maybe two.. but I don't know when else I will have time to write. :\**


	17. Chapter 18

**WHOOO!:DDDDDDDDDDDDDD ... seven days. i love you if you know what happens in seven days from now... which is August 18th. BTW, i had extreme neck pain while writing this chapter so you should all be grateful i wrote it for you. I don't think i'm going to write any more today, maybe tomorrow? :\**

Chapter 18:

Dead. That is what happened to them. They came into my firing range and I threw both of my knives at the same time, nailing them both straight in the forehead. They simultaneously fell to the ground dead, the knives having penetrated their brains. As the cannons go off, I smile.

I don't know why I am smiling; I just killed two innocent people. Is it that I enjoy killing people or that I know I am that much closer to going home, seeing my family. Do I want to see them? Could I even face them after killing so many people single-handedly? I guess I will find out when the time comes. If I can just kill one more person, before they kill me.

I leave the cave just as quickly as I came in. I wonder how they are going to retrieve the bodies from inside that cave.

Outside the cave, it has gotten a lot colder. But it looks like the top of the mountain is thawing out or something. Are they trying to drive us up to the top in search of warmth? Is that where the gamemakers want us to have the final showdown? I don't care where we are and I kinda wanted to climb to the top anyway, so I start heading up the mountain side.

I'm starting to shiver and I decide to put on Joshie's jacket that I took from him before the hovercraft picked up his body, repulsive as it may be. It helps a lot, but my hands are still freezing. A few times I start to lose balance and almost stumble off the side of the mountain, but I never do.

I realize that I was right about it getting warmer as I get higher up because my hands don't feel quite as cold as they did earlier. After about twenty more minutes of hiking, I am warm enough to take Joshie's jacket off from over mine.

When I reach the top I take off my own jacket as well, and set down my packs. It is nice up here, like a warm summer day. It's a 100 foot wide perfectly circular plateau. The grass is green up here and there is a single giant tree right in the middle, in case you want some shade. There's no snow up here, unlike the rest of the arena that is now covered in a thick blanket of snow. I love it here. There is a beautiful view of the rest of the arena. Honestly, it's breathtaking. It is snowing everywhere other than the top half of the mountain. It's like I'm standing in a single drop of summer in a sea of winter. I wish I had come up here earlier. Feeling at ease, I lay back and look up at the clouds. I could stay here for the rest of my life and I wouldn't mind.

My last comment brings me back to reality. Oh, yeah. I actually might be here for the rest of my life. Where is the only other person left? It's the girl from 4 right? I think so.

Looking around for her I climb up to the top of the tree and I wait for her to show herself. I don't see anything though.

**You should follow me on twitter if you want: nyancakee ... and don't feel afraid to say hi to me. I don't bite. It would be fun to be friends with you guys though. :p**


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